


Darkest Days

by TheSentientPotato



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Undertale AU, i might end up doing more, seamtale, this was fun to write, this was supposed to be shorter but i liked it so i kept going
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 03:22:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12808527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSentientPotato/pseuds/TheSentientPotato
Summary: Seamtale is new and does indeed belong to me! if you want to know more about anything feel free to ask me here or over at my Tumblr; https://soflashtastic.tumblr.com/brownie points to anyone who can figure out what the goo isI hope you have a wonderful day!





	Darkest Days

Soft violin and piano music played as Gaster peered into the large beaker through a pair of thick safety goggles. The liquid inside was a black so deep it seemed to absorb the light surrounding it and made a muffled crackling sound as it rolled gently of its own accord. His brow creased as he studied how the last element had affected the substance. He sighed, “No change.” The scritching of a pen was heard as his lab assistant took notes. 

“Skeets, hand me vial A50 please.”

“Yes sir. Y’know,” The sound of the pen stopped as the cat-like monster finished his notes and moved across the room. “You don't have to call me ‘Skeets’. You know what my name is.” Gaster chuckled as he turned to face his assistant, leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms.

“Skeets,” using the nickname caused a sigh to escape his colleague. “How long have you been working under me?” 

“I dunno, a year or two maybe?” 

“Two years, my boy. When did you become my personal lab assistant?” 

“Um… couple weeks ago?” 

“About a month. You should know this but it seems you don't, so I will tell you. I have an affinity for giving the people I work with nicknames. It helps me to remember you. It is also incredibly fun. You should just be glad that your’s sounds like your name.” 

Skeet laughed a little at that while he searched for the vial. “Fair enough.”

Gaster turned back to the container and hummed along to the music. Even with all the experiments and projects he had done, this was still unlike anything he had ever seen. It seemed to act on its own sometimes, swaying away from something or someone it didn’t like. There was a day where one of his peers had come in visibly upset. The substance had seemed to sense her displeasure because whenever she passed the beaker it had followed her movements. A strange thing indeed. 

“Did you see what happened to the guards that found this stuff?” Skeet asked. 

“Yes, quite terrible. Are they still in the hospital?” The sound of Skeet shuffling around grew quiet. Gaster looked over his shoulder at him. His head was down and he was clutching a vial tightly in his gloved hands. “Skeets?” 

Skeet’s voice wavered as he spoke “They… They were all found dead this morning.” He sniffed a little and held the vial to eye level, giving it a once over before handing it off. Gaster didn’t take it immediately but looked at Skeet with the eyes of someone who understood all too well the pain his assistant was going through. 

“Skeet, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. You have my condolences.” He placed a hand on Skeet’s shoulder. “After we get a few more of these tests done allow me to treat you to some dinner. It’s the least I can do.” Skeet nodded as Gaster took the vial from him. They turned back to the beaker only to find the substance plastered against the wall of the container in Skeets direction. 

Skeet cursed under his breath. “Sorry, Doctor. I’ll go get another lab assistant so you can finish this.” He started for the door but Gaster grabbed his elbow. 

“Skeet. As a parent it’s my job to look after not only my children, but the other young souls out there who need help. If you need anything, anything at all, you tell me.” he said “Understood?” 

Skeet chuckled and wiped a stray tear off his cheek. “Yes, Sir.”

Gaster nodded and let go of his arm. “Good. Now go take care of yourself. I’ll see you for dinner after I finish these.” 

He turned back to the beaker as Skeet silently walked out the door. The substance had settled back into the bottom of the beaker, rolling and making that strange sound.

‘What would happen,’ Gaster thought to himself. ‘If I were to stir this?’ Rolling up sleeves of his lab coat, he reached over grabbing a clear, plastic stirring stick from a rack of clean supplies. He exchanged his old gloves for a clean pair and leaned on his elbow beside the beaker. 

Ever so slowly, he tapped the surface of the liquid. It rippled outward slowly and went still. “Hmm….” He removed the stick and it began rolling again. ”Interesting.” He set the stirrer aside, picking up the clipboard Skeet had left behind. He scribbled a few notes on it in the doctor's-chicken-scratch style. 

Holding the clipboard in one arm, he grabbed the stirrer and positioned it above the substance. He slowly penetrated the surface and began stirring. The more he stirred the thicker it seemed to get.

Without his noticing he began thinking of the guards that had been put in the hospital and of Skeet and how worried he was for him. A trickle of sadness entered his mind.  
Suddenly, the thick sludge lept out of the beaker and latched onto his arm just above his gloves. 

The clipboard clattered to the ground as he gasped loudly. The sludge began working its way up his arm ever so slowly. This substance had killed five man just by coming in contact with it and yet, nothing was happening. He didn’t feel any pain at all. How had they died again? He couldn’t quite remember…

A wave of sadness and emotional pain suddenly cascaded over him. He dropped to his hands and knees, taking quick shallow breaths. Tears streamed down his face as he covered his head. Memories of when he had lost his family came rushing back to him with renewed strength. Being forced to watch as his mother and father were executed simply for being monsters. He felt the fear from his days in the war. The death and carnage. The sounds of his remaining family being cut down and slain on his watch. His friends screaming for help as they were carried off by humans. 

He didn’t make noise as he cried, he simply wasn’t getting enough air to make any. He was faintly aware of the sludge crawling up his arm, spreading across his shoulders and sinking deep into his bones. It was starving. He could tell now that it needed these negative emotions to live and It had just found a well of misery. It was sucking him dry. But he didn’t care anymore. 

He had done so many things wrong. It would probably be better for everyone if he just died. His boy’s would survive. They don’t need a father who couldn’t even protect his own sister. He fell to his side and curled in on himself. 

It would be better. 

if he just. 

died. 

~~~~~

Alphys’ feet ticked on the stone floor as she was led down the hallway to the royal scientist’s private laboratory. Out of all the people in the labs Skeet, Gaster’s right hand man, had chosen her! She was giddy with excitement but kept it under wraps for her friend. 

“I-I’m so sorry about your brother Skeet. H-he was a g-good man.” She said, patting his arm. 

“He sure was.” Skeet sniffed. “We used to play together all the time when we were little, and then school started getting harder and then he went into the Royal Guard and I started work here. We still hung out as often as we could but i always wanted to talk to him more.”

Having no siblings of her own, Alphys didn’t quite know how to respond to that so she decided not to. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the lab, each lost in their own thoughts. The activity in the halls became less and less the further down they traveled and tall plants placed here and there brightened up the place a little.  
Alphys picked under her claws as she walked “U-uhm… Skeet? How much-”

She was interrupted by the a low moan that came from one of the open doors ahead of them. They stopped in their tracks, Skeet’s ears pricking up at the noise. Alphys grabbed onto his lab coat. “S-S-Skeet…. W-what was that?” 

“I don’t know,” he answered, still looking at the open door “but stay close.”

They both slowly approached the sound, Alphys hiding a little behind her friend. They pressed themselves up against the wall next to the door and skeet cautiously peered into the lab. 

“Doctor Gaster!” He said, racing into the room. Alphys wasn’t even on claw through the doorway when Skeet turned to her. “Go get help!”

“What’s going on?!” she asked 

“Gaster got some of that black goop stuff on him, we don't know exactly what it does but it has killed monsters, Alphys. Now go get help!” 

“O-okay!” Alphys turned on her heels and ran down the corridor, leaving Skeet to take care of Gaster. 

“Oh Doc, what did you do?” He whispered. Gaster was curled in on himself, violet tears tracing the crack under his eye before falling to the ground. Skeet waved his arms over him trying to figure out what to do. He didn’t know if it was safe to try and help but seeing his usually strong mentor so shattered hurt him to the core. It was wrong in every conceivable way. 

Working up his courage, he reached down to try and remove the doctor’s lab coat. He gently pulled the arm that was not covered in the goop out of its sleeve and rolled him onto his stomach to try and get the other arm out without touching it too much. 

“Sorrysorrysorrysorry,” he said as he pulled out the arm. 

He tossed the jacket aside like it had some kind of disease and looked down at his friend. Once Skeet had gotten the coat off, Gaster had rolled back up into his fetal position and started shaking. He still couldn't see all of the goop due to the Doctor’s purple t-shirt but what he did see startled him. He could tell it was already halfway across his rib cage by how the shirt wiggled and filled out. Some of it had moved on across his shoulders and was now twisting around his right arm making a fascinating jagged spiral. 

Now, however, was not the time to be admiring the artistic talent of this disgusting goo, he needed to find out what else he could do while he waited for help. 

“Gaster? Gaster, I'm gonna check you stats alright?” Gaster didn’t reply but continued to tremble. 

“Right.” Summoning some of his magic Skeet brought out the Doctor’s soul and pulled up his HP bar. He covered his mouth when he saw that like the other infected patients, Gaster’s health bar was steadily going down but it was much much slower than them. 

“You’re prolonging his suffering you sick-” 

“SKEET!” Alphys came skidding across the doorway bringing a team of the medical staff with her “I-I-I got your h-help!” she huffed. She was breathing heavily and mumbling how she needed to get an exercise plan. 

“What happened?” one of the medic’s said as they pushed their way into the small room. 

“He got some of that black stuff on him and it’s spreading fast.” Skeet said, pushing Gaster’s soul back into his chest. 

“Alright son,” the medic said putting a hand on his shoulder. You’ve done what you can. Let us take over.” Skeet nodded and allowed himself to be gently pushed out the door.  
He slumped to the floor next to a still panting Alphys. “I-I’m so sorry. First your brother a-and now-“ 

“Thank you, Alphys but I just kinda wanna sit here and…… process everything that happened today. Just….” Skeet pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them, a few tears falling down his face. “don't leave me alone, okay?”

Alphys gently rubbed small circles into his back and let him cry.

~~~~~~~~

Almost two months later Skeet and Alphys along with a few other scientists stood in front of a giant tube filled with a bright green liquid. In the tube, with an oxygen mask placed over his mouth, Gaster floated unconscious. His entire body was covered in the sludge from his ankles and wrists all the way up his neck but somehow, someway, the medic’s and team of scientists assigned to keeping him alive had figured out how to do just that. 

A small monster worked the control panel of the tube, constantly checking on the Doctor’s stats. “Doctor Skeet,” she said. “Everything appears to be within the normal range, are we ready to pull him out?” 

Skeet looked to the team of medic’s next to him. They caught his eye and nodded, a few of them gently fidgeted with the stretched or their tools. “Alright, bring him down.”  
Her fingers flew across the controls as the tube started to drain, gently lowering Gaster to the bottom.

The glass slid down into the floor and the scientists held their breath as the medical team rushed forward. Right before they reached him one of them turned around with a worried expression, “You’re positive this stuff has been neutralized?” he asked.

Skeet took in a breath and nodded. “That stuff is a part of him now. It can’t hurt anyone anymore than the skin on your back can.” It had been hard to render the goo incapable of harming anyone. He had pulled several all nighters and drank a year's worth of coffee figuring it out. Ideas the worked out in theory had failed and failed again but now, seeing his friend being wheeled out to a hospital room instead of a chamber meant for the dying, he finally felt that everything was going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Seamtale is new and does indeed belong to me! if you want to know more about anything feel free to ask me here or over at my Tumblr; https://soflashtastic.tumblr.com/
> 
> brownie points to anyone who can figure out what the goo is
> 
> I hope you have a wonderful day!


End file.
